The Greatest Gift
by TutorGirlml
Summary: A holiday one-shot of fluff that I couldn't resist posting, even though it's late!  Caskett, set in the near  hopefully  future


_Hello everyone! Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and a safe and happy New Year. This was one more fic that I'd hoped to get posted by Christmas. Some major events happened in my life though and I didn't get it done, needless to say. I hope you'll still enjoy it. It's "Castle" but Caskett flavored this time instead of my preferred Lanie and Esposito. Also, it's the first future fic I've ever attempted, but I can hardly see how we think "Castle" could end without Castle and Beckett together. Of course I don't own them, but I can't help wanting to play…_

_(The song lyrics included are from an old Christmas song by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, "The Greatest Gift of All".)_

_**The Greatest Gift **_

_**By: TutorGirlml**_

_ By the time she had ushered the last of their guests _– _a happily mellow Kevin and Jenny Ryan, who were playfully somewhat chaperoning a slightly buzzed and definitely flirtatious Javier Esposito and Lanie Parish out the door and down to their respective cars – it was almost midnight by the clock in the hall. Katherine Castle – formerly Beckett – was exhausted, but in a good way, from staying up too late having fun with friends instead of the bone-weary, dispirited tired that used to run through her days that had all seemed the same until Rick Castle came into her life. Turning from the heavy wooden door as she closed it behind the last of their friends, Kate took just a second to lean back against the solid barrier and take in her surroundings. Lights twinkled warmly and merrily all around the Castle home. White twinkle lights twisted up the banister, blue lights on the tree, and multi-colored strands across the length of the fireplace mantle intermingled with greenery and the hooks for the stockings._

_ But what shown brightest for her in the whole place was the smiling writer standing in the archway between living room and kitchen watching her with an enchanted look on his face. Like the beacon of light in a dark, drab world that he had become for her ever since he first walked into her quiet, ordinary existence, Castle brightened his surroundings and her life more than she could have once imagined possible. Winking at him slyly, she gave a coy half-grin, and turned as if to move into the kitchen and clean up instead of coming to him. But he beckoned her and whispered her name, and she couldn't tease him. She felt like she had been given the greatest kind of a gift to be here with him tonight, knowing that she was loved and cherished, when for so long she had thought she might always be somewhat alone. _

_ She sauntered his way, letting a bit more of a swing into her hips than normal, as she often did to entice him. Cheeks flushing, she twisted the ends of her chestnut-colored hair nervously, feeling a bit vulnerable in the outfit she'd picked for the party, a far more feminine get-up than she wore for everyday. It was a long, cranberry-red, cowl-necked sweater dress, with black leggings underneath and black ballet flats and black dangle earrings to complete the look. She was tempted to pull the loose neck of the sweater up over her face like a turtle. Being with Rick had made her feel more like a beautiful woman than she ever had before, but she couldn't help also sometimes feeling somewhat uncomfortably on display when she was all dressed up._

_ But the light in his eyes as she came to his arms didn't dim – instead it warmed and darkened his gaze with both affection and desire, an intriguing expression, even on the always enigmatic writer. As she melted into his embrace, Kate felt herself smiling and forgetting her momentary discomfort to wrap her arms around her husband. Perhaps that was Castle's real gift to her, she mused. He had a way of making her feel at ease in her own skin, better than she had ever been able to feel on her own. Something in his voice and his eyes when he whispered hoarsely, "You look beautiful, Sweetheart," and brought her hand up to gently place a kiss on her knuckles, as he was doing now, made her believe him every time._

_ She looked up for just a moment, heart fluttering, wondering how she had resisted his charm for so long back in the beginning, and saw that he had managed to have them end up standing right under the mistletoe they had hung for the party. There was no doubt he had planned it; the impish smirk he wore when she met his eyes again confirmed what she'd already known. Yet, she found that she would love to kiss him a hundred times – mistletoe or not – so that when he murmured in her ear, "Kiss me, Mrs. Castle, and come snuggle by the fire," she did just that happily, wondering how she had gotten so lucky._

_Dawn is slowly breaking_

_Our friends have all gone home_

_You and I are waiting_

_For Santa Claus to come_

_There's a present by the tree_

_Stockings on the wall_

_Knowing you're in love with me_

_Is the greatest gift of all_

_ Watching the flames crackle in the fireplace before her, Kate Castle felt like there couldn't be a better place or anywhere else she'd want to be in the whole world. Snuggled up cozily in front of the fireplace in the arms of the only person she had ever let down her guard for; the only person she had ever let beyond her shield and her armor to see the real her. Rick had made her want to strangle him, shoot him, put out a hit on him, and lock him in his own padded cell more times than she could count. But now she realized it had all been out of love – it had brought her out of herself and back into life. He forced her to start living with joy and laughter and to stop holding people at arm's length for fear that they would be the next loved one she lost._

_ Smiling as she rubbed her hand lightly over his forearm that rested wrapped warmly around her stomach and felt him bend to nuzzle her hair and kiss the top of her head, she thought back over the party they'd thrown that evening, and the fulfilling feeling of seeing all the people they cared about, who'd been there since they first met and all through their courtship, together and happy, forgetting their troubles for awhile._

_ Alexis was home from college for the winter break; she'd happily crashed in the front door with all her bags two days ago, talking a mile a minute, anxious to tell them all the developments since she had been home in the fall. Just now, she was upstairs gabbing with Martha, as if the two of them were both sixteen-year-olds at a slumber party and hadn't been apart for even five hours, much less two months. When Kate had become a Castle and moved into the lavish apartment, she had worried about fitting into their already established family life, but everything had been wonderful. It was like finally getting back a whole family that had been taken from her so young, and she wouldn't trade or give it back for anything._

_ "Knowing how it's played out now," Rick murmured deeply somewhere near her ear, "I'm glad I took that bullet."_

_ Her brow furrowed, the memory of fear, anger, and heartache marring the perfection she had been feeling moments before. "How's that, Castle?" she asked, disregarding the fact that she was technically now Castle also. She had called him that for so long that the nickname was stuck, especially when he puzzled or irked her as he was doing now._

_ "Getting shot for you was what won me your heart," he said simply, sounding cheesy but somehow pulling it off and acting as though that explained everything. _

_ Kate remembered that day two years ago very differently. They had been chasing down a suspect, he'd turned abruptly, gun in hand, and fired. Castle had jumped in front of her, taking the bullet meant for her. It had been a close call. She had nearly lost him before she'd ever really let herself have him. For a moment it had looked pretty touch and go, and she had sincerely wanted to bring him around again to kill him herself for doing something so reckless and stupid. Once he had healed though – and she had calmed down – she had been forced to admit that she would have done the same thing to save him. It had also finally led her to believe that he truly was going to stay around. He wasn't just playing cops and robbers, or researching a book series, but serious about them…about her. He was staying for the long haul. They had been engaged before the month was out, and married that August. What had been startling to them was that no one who knew them very well at all had been a bit surprised. _

_ "You might think it was worth it," she replied, voice low and deadly serious as she gripped his hand tightly, "but I never will. If you hadn't pulled through, Rick, I would never have forgiven myself."_

_ There was a resigned, somewhat indulgent smile on his face as he nudged her into turning to face him more fully. "I suppose we'll just agree to disagree on that," he said._

_ "It wouldn't be the first time we've had to," she replied teasingly._

_ "And I doubt it will be the last," he added, finishing the conversation effectively by catching her up in a smoldering kiss that lingered until they both lost their breath…_

_The fire is slowly fading_

_Chill is in the air_

_All the gifts are waiting_

_For children everywhere_

_Through the window I can see_

_Snow begin to fall_

_Knowing you're in love with me_

_Is the greatest gift of all_

_ Dawn's light and fingers of brilliant intermingled colors had begun to streak across the early morning sky when Alexis Castle meandered yawning down the stairs in pajama pants, robe, and slippers the next morning. Stifling a yawn, she shuffled toward the kitchen to start a pot of coffee for them all, when she was stopped by a sweet, surprising sight. There before her on the living room sofa lay her dad and Kate, cuddled cozily together still asleep in their rumpled party clothes. Her eyes sparkled with affection as she found a blanket on the back of another chair and gently covered them both. Always observant and astute, Alexis had never failed to appreciate her doting, loving, encouraging father – especially considering the fact that she had a near-absentee mother, who, when she was around, wanted to be Alexis' gal pal instead of her parent. She was, however, overcome sometimes by how much she cared for Kate; the woman had become a welcome surrogate for the mother she hadn't realized she wanted so badly. Kate had told Alexis once that her dad choosing her as a muse and creating Nikki Heat had given her a family again. Alexis hoped Kate realized that she had done the same for them – completed their family unit. She had always felt that her dad, grandma, and she were enough together, but now she couldn't imagine it just being the three of them again without Kate._

_ Turning, she left her two errant, young-at-heart parents to sleep in and padded back into the kitchen. Maybe she would make them all brunch after all. He dad was always creating interesting pancake concoctions, maybe she would try her hand at it and come up with something great._


End file.
